Various settings that must be selected, and various operations that must be performed when engaging a substrate processing apparatus in operation are normally selected and performed by the operator by operating an operation unit of the substrate processing apparatus. The operation unit includes a touch-panel type operation display unit managed based upon a software program, a plurality of hardware buttons and the like, and these members may be disposed at, for instance, the front surface of the substrate processing apparatus.
Numerous screens such as setting screens and operation screens are brought up on display at the operation display units constituting part of the operation unit. These screens are sorted into a plurality of groups each corresponding to a specific classification, with screens in each group organized hierarchically. As a button displayed on a screen belonging to a given classification group is depressed, the screen in the next hierarchical layer in the group can be brought up on display. The operator selects a button corresponding to a setting to be selected or an operation to be performed in the screen on display at the operation display unit and touches the button. As the operator performs this touch operation repeatedly, he is able to switch the display from one screen to another until the desired screen is brought up on display so as to select the necessary setting or perform the necessary operation (see, for instance, Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. H08-227835). The substrate processing apparatus is engaged in operation under normal circumstances by first bringing up on display the relevant setting screens and selecting the various settings and then bringing up the relevant operation screen so as to engage the substrate processing apparatus under conditions corresponding to the selected settings.
An apparatus such as a substrate processing apparatus requires numerous settings of various types to be selected and, accordingly, the number of setting screens brought up on display at the operation display unit is extremely large. In other words, such an apparatus requires various types of setting operations, including setting operations performed via hardware buttons, setting operations performed to select processing conditions such as gas flow rates and pressures, setting operations performed to select settings for the substrate transfer system through which substrates such as semiconductor wafers are transferred and setting operations performed to enter the model numbers, the types and the like of the numerous parts constituting the apparatus, to be performed.
In addition, as a new function is added into a multifunction substrate processing apparatus, a setting screen in which the new function is set is created, resulting in a greater number of setting screens. Since such new setting screens are sequentially added to an existing hierarchical layer in the related screen group or are added to a newly created deeper hierarchical layer, the number of screens in each layer and the number of hierarchical layers are becoming increasingly large.
A problem thus arises in that when there are a large number of screen hierarchical layers, it becomes more time-consuming and labor-intensive for the operator to reach the desired setting screen through screen operations. In addition, depending upon how the screens are sorted, a setting screen for a given target object may be included in a hierarchical layer in another screen group. Under such circumstances, it is bound to be an extremely complicated and time-consuming process to find the desired setting screen. There is an added concern that needs to be addressed when the operation screens and the setting screens are sorted into separate screen groups in that if it becomes necessary to adjust the setting for an operation target while the apparatus is engaged in operation after performing a setting operation in the setting screens and then switching to the operation screen, the operator will have to perform a complicated setting operation by first reverting to the setting screens and sequentially switching the setting screens until the desired setting item for the operation target is brought up on display for the setting adjustment.
The operator thus needs to have certain know-how and experience with regard to the various setting screens and the setting operations performed to select specific settings in order to be able to bring up on display the desired setting screen quickly. In other words, there may be operators who do not know how to locate a specific function or how to locate the corresponding setting item that must be selected in order to set a given function.